The federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act [CAPTA] (as amended in 1996) requires North Carolina, as a condition of receiving federal CAPTA and Title IV-B funding for child protective services, to adopt and enforce state laws, policies, and procedures that protect the privacy rights of abused or neglected children and their parents or guardians. These state laws, policies, and procedures must ensure that child protective services reports and records are used only for purposes related to child abuse and neglect prevention and treatment and are disclosed only
to an individual who is the subject of a child protective services report;
to federal, state, or local government agencies that need information in order to carry out their legal responsibilities to protect children from abuse and neglect;
to child abuse citizen review panels;
to child fatality review panels;
to a grand jury or court, upon a finding that disclosure of the requested information is necessary for the determination of an issue before the court or grand jury;
to other agencies or individuals that are authorized by state statute to receive the requested information for a legitimate state purpose.
CAPTA also requires state laws regarding the confidentiality of child protective services cases to include provisions allowing public disclosure of findings or information about a child abuse or neglect case involving a child fatality or near fatality.